Bozeman boasts two of the 1000 places you have to see before you die. One of them is the Museum of the Rockies at Montana State University. (This one is actually in the book) It offers -- among other things -- one of the world's largest dinosaur fossil collections, based upon the research of Dr. Jack Horner, who was also advisor to the Jurassic Park films. If you're thinking that you've already done dinosaurs with the kids or the grandkids, think again. This display will knock your socks off.

Din0saurs survived as a species for a hundred million years. And the descendants of avian dinosaurs are still with us -- we call them birds. Crocodiles, spiders, cockroaches; lots of life-forms have been around a lot longer than we have. We think we're so wonderful, but if the volcano seething and bubbling beneath Yellowstone National Park erupts again, we might end up being little more than a mote of dust in evolution's eye.

That thought sent me searching for a glass of red wine, which I found at Bozeman's second must-see destination, John Bozeman's Cafe on Main Street. Even on a Tuesday afternoon, the place was packed. (That's a good sign, I thought. And I was right) They managed to find us a table, and we did lunch. And what a lunch! Bao and I can personally reccommend the Flank Steak salad, but everything that went past on its way to other diners looked just as tempting.

Bozeman is definitely worth a side-trip. Do the dinosaurs, and and then do lunch at John Bozeman's. Trust me, it doesn't get better than this.